


Reunions

by war_between_stars



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M, Reunions, possibly ooc because i’m new at this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24903841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/war_between_stars/pseuds/war_between_stars
Summary: A short in which Hakoda struggles while Bato is recovering at the abbey and then his surprise when both his kids and Bato show up at the rendezvous point.—“And we found Bato!”Bato, who hadn’t noticed him yet because he was too busy being surrounded by the rest of the crew.  Bato, who still had half of his side bandaged from the burns. Bato, who Hakoda had been longing to see for weeks. That Bato.
Relationships: Bato/Hakoda (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 121





	Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> I love this pairing so much and I just HAD to write them when I saw there weren’t many fics
> 
> I’ve never written fanfic before though, so any constructive criticism would be helpful! Just please be nice

Leaving Bato behind was one of the hardest things Hakoda had to do. He’d already left his kids behind to fight in the war, and now he was leaving his second in command, his best friend and partner, behind in an abbey. It felt as though Hakoda was constantly letting others down and leaving them behind. Logically, he knew they both were the right decisions. Katara and Sokka were too young to experience war on the front lines, and if it took him going away to prevent their tribe from becoming a battleground, he would do it. Their recent skirmish left Bato badly burned, and it didn’t make sense to keep him aboard and risk further injury.

It didn’t mean that it was _easy_. Easy would have been staying with Bato, remaining at his side while he recovered.

Carrying Bato up the hill to the where the sisters lived, Hakoda could feel Bato flinch every time his fingers brushed against a burn. And there were so many of them. It was all he could do to stammer an explanation when he reached the top before the sisters took Bato from him promising to do their best to heal Bato’s burns. He assured them that he would send word when he and his men reached the rendezvous point. It wouldn’t do for a leader to cry, so he didn’t. He had to be strong for his men, Bato, and himself.

He met Bato’s eyes one last time and quickly turned down the hill before he could regret it and run back to his side. He knew if he looked too long, he wouldn’t be able to leave.

As much as Bato meant to him, he still had the rest of his crew to care for. Bato was burned the worst, but there were other men injured aboard the ships. They would have to take care of their injuries and quickly set sail for the rendezvous point before more Fire Nation soldiers showed up. No, he simply couldn’t stay behind.

The following days went by in a flurry. Hakoda was always busy, whether it was strategizing which direction to sail next, rummaging for food, helping heal his men, or attempting to keep up moral. It kept him busy into the late hours of the night and forced his mind to work. It was the best during the day when distractions like these kept him busy.

The night was a different story. Night after night he lay awake in his quarters, the rocking of the boat doing little to lull him into sleep. Instead it prompted the ambush to play over and over again in his mind, wondering what they could have done, what _he_ could have done, to save his men. 

_ And to save Bato _ , his traitorous mind whispered, even as he tried desperately to deny the thought. A good chief should care for all of his men equally, right?

The little sleep he did get was plagued by nightmares. Dreams of Bato going up in flames while Hakoda could do nothing but watch, his feet rooted to the ground. Dreams of leaving Bato in the abbey only to have him die a few days later, while Hakoda was miles away. Sometimes he even saw Katara and Sokka with Bato, pleading him to help them, while the Fire Nation held him immobile. It left him gasping in his quarters, eyes flashing in the dark quarters at invisible threats.

It was these nights that were the hardest, when he missed Bato’s presence the most. Instead of having his partner to comfort him, he was all alone in his quarters. Through ragged breaths he reminded himself that Katara and Sokka were safe in the Southern Water Tribe and Bato… well, he was safe at the abbey. Hakoda refused to allow himself to think differently.

\------

With the nights and days dragging on, it was no wonder that upon nearing the rendezvous point, Hakoda felt as though he were on his last legs. He couldn’t remember the last night he’d slept for more than a few broken hours. He didn’t show it of course. Despite the bags under his eyes, he worked hard alongside everyone else, and while his men may have had their private opinions, they never expressed any concerns over his wellbeing. He did his best to eat with the crew and laugh at their stories, even if the joy didn’t reach his eyes. Still, no one looked too closely and so he continued on. He was a leader; he could only move forwards.

The night before they were set to reach shore, Hakoda found himself once more unable to sleep. Arriving at the rendezvous gave him hope that he would be able to see Bato once more. Finally, the days seemed to be counting down to their next meeting.

With shaking hands, he started writing a letter explaining their whereabouts. How he longed to write of his loneliness at sea and fill Bato in on all he had missed, he refrained and kept the letter brief. It wasn’t likely to be intercepted, but Hakoda knew he couldn’t take that risk.

Upon reaching the rendezvous point, Hakoda gathered his crew together on the sand and briefed them of the plan. They were only to stay for a few days, long enough to replenish supplies for their ship and enjoy being on land before setting off to their next location. Even though his men were allowed to travel to the nearby town, they had to be careful not to attract too much attention to themselves.

When his men left for town, Hakoda went and found the nearest and most reliable messenger to pass on his letter to Bato. Handing off the letter and watching the man ride off, he felt his stomach drop. He had been playing this moment out in his head for weeks, the moment when he could summon Bato to return. Suddenly, it was over, and he was left with only his fears. What if the messenger failed to deliver his note? What if it didn’t reach Bato in time? What if something happened to Bato while he was away? Swallowing his doubts, he forced himself to carry on as normally as he could, going about the rest of his day on autopilot.

\------

One day at the rendezvous passed. Then two days. Then three days. Suddenly, it was their last full day there. His crew, although enjoying their time, was ready to move on. Hakoda felt as though he couldn’t breathe.

_ Tomorrow morning. _ He told himself. _Tomorrow morning we leave. He’ll be here today, he’ll make it, he promised me he would come back, he_ promised _, he can’t leave me-_

Hakoda looked down to see his hands shaking. He forced himself to take a deep breath to steady his hands before he moved to leave his tent.

The morning was filled with more strategy meetings inquiring which city would provide the best alliance and where a fleet their size would be able to loosen the holds of the Fire Nation. Hakoda worried that he would have to carry on by himself. Although it was hard to strategize without Bato, for he knew what Hakoda was thinking often before Hakoda did, if it was time to move on, he would. He had no other option than forwards.

Vowing to enjoy his last day on the shore, Hakoda joined his men in games on the beach and threw himself into helping out as much as he could. Sure, he was using these momentary distractions to cope, but it was working. If the others noticed his overenthusiasm, they didn’t mention it.

As evening drew near, he headed to town with some of his crew to get fresh food for dinner one last time before they would be setting out to sea. When they returned back to their makeshift camp, arms ladled with food, there was shouting about… a flying bison? Hakoda couldn’t see from where he was approaching, so he started handing out food until more shouts drew his attention.

To be more specific, they were shouting his name. He looked up, startled, to see two figures running towards him leaving behind a group of whooping Southern Water Tribe soldiers. And… why did those figures look like Sokka and Katara?

Without any conscious thought, his feet started to move towards the commotion. He had no time to question whether he was hallucinating before Sokka was slamming into him. Soon Katara too was crushing him in a hug, and it took a few more seconds before the shock faded enough for him to hear them speaking.

“And then he was there, and we couldn’t _believe_ we found someone else from the Southern Water Tribe-”

“And he told us if we waited a few days we might hear where you were-”

“But we thought we might miss you because Aang hid the letter until after I went ice-dodging… well, more like rock dodging, but-”

“Sokka, that isn’t important. Aang let us ride Appa because he felt really bad for having broken our trust, but it’s all ok because we made it!”

“And we missed you Dad!” Sokka finished.

They both looked at him with big smiles while Hakoda stared unblinkingly at them.

“I’m… I’m so glad to see you both. But, why aren’t you in the South Pole? Who are Aang and Appa? And who did you find?” Hakoda trailed off, trying to make sense of the tangle of sentences that his kids had been shouting simultaneously.

“Dad, Aang is the Avatar, and Appa is his flying bison,” Katara began with a smile, pointing at the bald boy behind her. “We met him while out ice fishing. He had been frozen in ice for one hundred years. We’ve been travelling with him ever since the Fire Nation attacked the Southern Tribe a while ago. We’re headed to the North Pole so that we can both learn water bending from a master.”

“Uh, hi. Nice to meet you,” said the bald kid- no, Aang, waving shyly with one hand behind his head.

“And we found Bato!” Sokka yelled, waving his arms wildly to indicate the man Hakoda failed to see behind him.

Bato, who hadn’t noticed him yet because he was too busy being surrounded by the rest of the crew. Bato, who still had half of his side bandaged from the burns. Bato, who Hakoda had been longing to see for weeks. That Bato.

He gave his kids another squeeze before easing up his grip enough to raise one arm. “Bato,” Hakoda called, his voice oddly thick in what he hoped could be chalked up to joy at seeing his kids.

The man in question turned and smiled, before extricating himself from the crew and making his way over to Hakoda. With his unbandaged arm, he reached up to clasp his hand on Hakoda’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s good to see you, Chief. We certainly have a lot of catching up to do; I found some friends near the end of my recovery. Perhaps we could talk over dinner? These kids certainly have a story to tell that I believe will entertain you and the rest of our men,” Bato said smiling fondly at the three kids, who beamed at his praise.

Wordlessly Hakoda nodded and gestured to the fire on the sand. He was afraid that if he spoke his voice would give way, and he wouldn’t allow that in front of their crew. The kids seemed eager enough to speak anyway.

The three ran ahead, leaving Bato and Hakoda to walk together towards where the men had gathered around the food. Their hands, although not directly touching, hovered mere inches from each other, but neither seemed willing to close the distance. Not in the open anyway.

Sokka and Katara were welcomed immediately by the rest of the men, as was Aang after a few more introductions. Soon, they were all sitting around a campfire listening raptly to the story the kids had to tell. Sokka was telling of their narrow escapes and battle strategies in between bites of food, Aang was embellishing tales of his air-bending, and Katara was correcting them all and making sure the boys didn’t stray too far from the actual events.

From where Bato was sitting, he could see Hakoda’s focus rapidly shifting. Although he seemed to focus on the children, nodding along and even encouraging them with questions and exclamations, Bato caught Hakoda’s eyes wandering to meet his own when Hakoda thought the other men wouldn’t notice. Each time, they would smile before looking elsewhere quickly. They needed to talk, but it wouldn’t be done around others.

After an hour or so, the fire began dwindling and the eyelids began to droop. One by one everyone started heading to their tents, leaving Bato, Hakoda, and the kids by the fire. Aang made off to lay out the kids sleeping bags by Appa, and Bato bade them all goodnight, heading to Hakoda’s tent, leaving Hakoda with his kids.

For a moment, they all sat in silence. Both Katara and Sokka had told their stories and had little more to add. They enjoyed the presence of family, which was full, with the exception of Gran-Gran, for the first time in years. Finally, it was Hakoda who broke the silence.

“I am so proud of you two. You have both grown so much since I’ve seen you last, and I know you’ll only continue to get better from here. Katara, I know you’ll learn to become a great waterbender at the North Pole. And Sokka, I know you’ll be a great warrior, protecting those you care about and even those you’ve just met,” Hakoda said sincerely to his two kids.

Katara ducked her head but reached out to hug her father. He swore he saw tears in her eyes as Sokka latched onto his other side. The three of them sat in a hug for a little while before Sokka pulled away.

“Dad, you’ll still be here in the morning, right?”

“Of course, son. We’ll eat breakfast, but then we’ll set out to our next stop. And as happy as I am that you both came, you need to head out to the North Pole. I’m sure our paths will cross again before this war is over,” Hakoda responded.

Giving them one last squeeze, they all departed to their own spaces; Hakoda to his tent and Sokka and Katara to their sleeping bags.

“Good night Dad! We’ll see you in the morning!” Sokka shouted, waving his arms wildly by the sleeping bags before Katara smacked him in the head with a hushed, “Be quiet, people are sleeping.”

Hakoda waved back before turning to his own tent. Smile sliding off of his face, he took a deep breath in preparation, willing his legs to stop shaking and walk in the tent. He knew that his partner was mere meters from him after weeks of separation.

Hakoda pushed back the flaps to find Bato sitting on his sleeping mat smiling up at him. It was all he could do to not fling himself at Bato, instead, falling to his knees and drawing him into a hug.

“Please, please don’t ever leave me that long again,” Hakoda’s voice cracked as he embraced him. “Please, I’ve lost so many people, I can’t lose you too. I thought I did, I thought you weren’t coming back when you weren’t here, I was so worried that you had died, and I _left you_.”

“It’s alright, my Chief, I’m here. I’m right here,” Bato murmured, pulling Hakoda back to place a kiss on his forehead.

Hakoda hadn’t realized that he had been crying until he felt Bato’s hand reach up to brush the tears away. The act of gentleness prompted more tears to fall from his eyes. All the sleepless nights and worries came to a head as he sat in front of the man he missed for so long, and all the tears he held back suddenly flowed freely. Unable to speak, Hakoda buried his head into his partner’s neck. This time it was Bato who held Hakoda as his body shook, whispering reassurances to his chief and holding him close.

“I’m right here Hakoda, I’m alright. I’m healed, I got your message, and I’m right here beside you,” Bato spoke in an undertone, gently holding Hakoda to him.

“I’m sorry. I was so worried that the worst had happened and there was nothing I could do to help,” Hakoda started wiping at his tears and moving away from Bato, attempting to pull himself together.

“Hakoda, my Chief, it’s alright. I worried for you too and I missed your presence at the abbey. It’s alright to cry, you don’t have to be strong in front of me. I know you choose to stay strong in front of our men, but please, you can be vulnerable with me,” Bato replied, and Hakoda allowed himself to be pulled back into the hug.

“It’s been so long. I trust no one as I trust you, Bato.”

“I know. I love you too Hakoda.”

A sniffle was the only response he got, and Bato huffed a small laugh. _Still as stoic as ever,_ he thought.

“Are you ready to go to sleep now, my Chief? We have a long journey ahead of us still,” Bato said, pulling back once more to look into Hakoda’s eyes, which were already half-closed.

“Will you stay with me? I haven’t slept more than a few hours a night since you left,” Hakoda whispered, turning his head away from Bato in embarrassment.

Bato laughed quietly before taking Hakoda’s chin in his hand and turning Hakoda’s face gently to face his own. He leaned down to give Hakoda a kiss and smiled fondly as Hakoda tried to follow with his eyes still closed.

“I wouldn’t dream of leaving you now, nor do I plan on it any time soon. Go to sleep, we’ll be able to make up for lost time when you aren’t falling on me.”

Dragging their furs to the center of the tent, they silently shed into their sleeping clothes before laying down on their makeshift beds. With his bandaged arm, Bato reached to pull Hakoda closer to him.

“Are you sure this will be ok? It won’t hurt your arm further?” Hakoda mumbled, even as he pressed close to Bato anyway. 

“Of course. And even if it did, I would do it anyway for you. I love you, Hakoda,” Bato pressed a kiss to the back of Hakoda’s head as they both drifted into a peaceful slumber.


End file.
